Beyond Van Gogh

June 13, 2021

Beyond Van Gogh

With the news of my mother Marta’s passing, Kathy and I made arrangements to travel to Winston-Salem to attend her memorial. We decided the best thing to do was to make the drive up and take our dog Jack, who was for many years Marta’s, with us. We arranged for a house sitter who would stay at our house and watch the cats, as we drove up. We had already made arrangements and had tickets to see an art exhibit in Miami this week, but were thankfully able to change the dates so that we could still attend, this time as we passed through Miami on the way to North Carolina.

The exhibit is called “Beyond Van Gogh” and is the first of the new wave of immersive, interactive art exhibits that are sweeping the nation to visit Miami. It utilizes cutting edge projection technology to create an incredible, beautiful immersive experience into the art and world of renowned painer Vincent Van Gogh.

Held at the prestigious Ice Palace Studios just North of downtown Miami and South of Wynwood, Kathy and I (and Jack) headed there after a quick lunch at Kush in Wynwood. Since we had Jack, we had to take turns experiencing the exhibit, which worked out perfectly because they had a beautiful hammock and picnic table filled area where we could hang out with the dog while the other went inside. There was even a bar and outdoor café which was especially nice.

The exhibit begins with a somewhat traditional display covering the history of Van Gogh, his life and times and the various stages of his artistic expression, but the payoff and what everyone has come to see is in the large warehouse space where the multimedia projection and immersive experience puts the viewer literally in the middle of Van Gogh’s colorful and powerful works.

It really is impossible to describe what must really be experienced, but it is a fantastic experience in which the Dutch master’s work literally explodes off every surface and even the floor and ceiling giving the person the true experience of being immersed in the swirling art and color that leaps off every surface. It is trippy, fun and beautiful.

Still photos do not begin to capture the experience, movement and color of the experience, which I really, really liked. While it will never take the place of seeing the original masterpieces, it is a cool reimagining of the artist’s work and if it helps introduce new people to art then I am all for it. It was fun and mesmerizing and something that I look forward to doing again at future exhibits with other artists or even with Van Gogh.

In fact there is another similar immersive Van Gogh exhibit that has opened just about a mile south of this one at the historic Olympia Theater that I hope to check out as well and I foresee a plethora of similar immersive type exhibits popping up around the country.

https://beyondvangogh.com/

“I just wanna dance the night away With senoritas who can sway…” -Raul Malo

June 7, 2021

“I just wanna dance the night away
With senoritas who can sway…” -Raul Malo

It is always nice to get back to Key West after being away, especially since I had been apart from Kathy and with the pandemic finally beginning to ease a little and being fully vaccinated- it is really nice to be able to resume a bit of what we might consider normalcy. Being able to go out and interact with others, eat in an actual restaurant, attend a real live concert in our hometown and other facets of our lives that have been missing for the past 18 months is such a treat.

We are still very cautious, but we are no longer holed up in our home and avoiding any semblance of human interaction and events are starting to return as well, with varying levels of safety precautions as most people are like us and are happy and anxious to get back to enjoying life. 

The first event that we were so very excited to attend was the first Key West concert that we had attended since prior to the pandemic. There had been a couple that we had missed as we were out of town, so we were especially amped to attend the benefit concert to celebrate the San Carlos Institute’s 150^th birthday featuring one of Kathy’s absolute favorite performers, Raul Malo. 

Malo is the lead singer of the Mavericks, but also performs solo shows like the one we got to see at the San Carlos. We had seen the Mavericks the last time they played in Key West at the Mile 0 Festival in 2019 and it was an amazing show, so we were thrilled that Malo was back performing in the San Carlos. We had seen him there a few times in the past when he appeared as part of the Key West Songwriter’s Festival, but this was the first stand-alone solo show and it did not disappoint.

First off the place was packed with happy locals as the pent up demand to experience live music was evident both from the stage and in the excited crowd and the vibe was terrific and people were beyond receptive as Malo delivered a staggeringly good performance featuring solo hits, Mavericks tunes and some awesome covers in both Spanish and English. 

It was about a perfect night out and we loved the show and being out among friends again. We were out among friends again later in the week as we spent an awesome day at Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park at the beach. Our friend Fiona, who recently moved to Florida’s Gulf coast with her husband Jim, was back for a visit and a group of friends gathered at the beach to hang out.

Fiona had not had a real opportunity to say goodbye, moving during the pandemic so it was great to see her and give her an official send-off on what was a perfect summer day at the beach in Key West. Enjoying the company of my friends and being in such a beautiful place softened the blow when I got the message from my sister Marika that our mother had passed away.  Even as the news was expected, it is never easy to hear and absorb, but being in a place that my mother loved and we had visited on her final trip to Key West.

The last event of the week was an annual event organized by our friend Lori at the College of the Florida Keys (formally Florida Keys Community College), the Swim Around Key West. Each year hundreds of swimmers from across the country show up in Key West to swim the 12- mile loop around the island. Each swimmer is required to have a kayaker follow them as both a safety measure and to provide food and liquid as it is not a quick swim.

This year Lori asked me to photograph the event for her and Kathy volunteered to kayak along with a swimmer, which in and of itself is a strenuous feat. Her swimmer finished in just over five hours and I was on hand to watch the start and then returned later to watch the swimmers complete the event. It was impressive. Hot and difficult, there were no shortage of accomplished swimmers and kayakers who completed the event.